Ashes of Winter
by joylss
Summary: When Byakuran finally won over the Tri-ni-set, the world is under his power. And Mukuro is forced to make a deadly choice: forfeit himself to his enemy or watch his friends die. Byakuran/Mukuro, Hibari/Mukuro.
1. Chapter 1

_Byakuran x Mukuro. May have a part 2, but I don't know. All things depend._

_**Warning(s):**__ Yaoi, disturbing contents, possible cannon character's deaths, and very OOC uke Mukuro._  
_**Extra note:**__ Personally I would classify this fic as being rather dark. Read at your own risk!_

_**Summary:**__ When Byakuran finally won over the Tri-ni-set, the world is under his power. And Mukuro is forced to make a deadly choice: forfeit himself to his enemy or watch his friends die._

* * *

The smell of sweat, smoke, ashes, and fire. These were the first things his senses recognized when Mukuro woke up to find himself on a bed of debris as fine as sand, the Vongola Base destroyed, and the corpses of people he knew lying all around him.

At first, his mind could not grasp enough to remember what had happened before he passed out. He blamed it on the wound at the back of his head, which had stopped bleeding after he woke up, although it'd gotten his attire soaked with blood of both his and others.

His head kept spinning for almost ten minutes, before the memories came back. He remembered visiting the Vongola Base for some sort of reason - Tsunayoushi and the others were discussing of how to defeat Byakuran. The Milliefiore practically pushed the Vongola to the brink of extinction and Tsunayoushi thought it was time they really do something about it.

Mukuro did not visit the Vongola Base often, although he has a room there is was usually unoccupied. He prefer spending his nights in his enemy's base when he was working as a spy, or sleeping at whatever hotel near to his travel whenever night falls (and if there was no hotel where he was, the Mist Guardian would literally just blanket himself with an illusion and sleep by the street pavements or a bench in the park).

Though not even one tenth of his time was spend with the family, it did not stop Mukuro from acquiring information about them. He knew when they needed him and would appear when he was required. Otherwise, a visit or two in the span of three months to the Base was his usual routine (most of the time to report the results of his mission or to deliver and receive information).

It happened on one of his visits. He'd just finished reporting his failure of spying in the Milliefiore Family and Guido Greco's massacre when an invasion of the Milliefiore army occurred. It appears that they somehow found the Vongola's secret base and embark on an attack immediately before any of the Vongola could escape.

Nobody from the Vongola survived the invasion, although most part of the Millifiore troops also perished in said battle and they had only just won a pyrrhic victory, the Vongola were left with an exact number of zero survivors. Except a few individuals who held important positions in the Vongola before its carnage. Mukuro knew and hoped Tsunayoushi and the other Guardians were still alive, because when he looks through the corpses in the aftermath of the battle, he could not find any of them.

His footsteps stop when he came upon a familiar broken photo frame in which he acknowledges as the one he had in his room, lying partially hidden under a pile of shattered cement that were previously walls. Picking it up, he looks at the photo of the Hibari Kyoya and himself, hand across the shoulders of each other, through the broken glass. It was taken a few years back during the Vongola Decimo's twenty-first birthday, where they had a game of truth and dare and Lambo had dared Tsunayoushi to make Kyoya take a photo together with Mukuro.

Kyoya did not let them have it easy, though, the Vongola Tenth Boss had to go through a black-eye and several minor injuries before Kyoya hesitantly let him take a photo of Mukuro and himself. Mukuro had been delighted when he was called over to the camera, that he actually really smiled. Kyoya was hesitant at first and looked annoyed, but the rare smiling look on his face in the picture implied that he did enjoy it in the end.

It was the only photo he had with Kyoya that he was genuinely smiling. The Cloud Guardian has the same photo with a matching frame in his own room. And Mukuro would have went to his room to retrieve it, had it not been reduced into nothing but ashes and fire.

He dislodges the photo from the broken frame and slides it into the inner pocket of his jacket. It was too much to lose it when he'd already lost so much.

He knelt down in pain when the wound on the back of his head begun to hurt again. More memories came back and this time, he remembered fighting Byakuran one-to-one. It surprised everyone when the Milliefiore leader showed up, considering he often sits at the main base in Italy and seldom left his room, sending his squads out to do his dirty work instead, and sometimes led by a Funeral Wreath or two. But it was almost never that he'd led an army on his own.

Fighting with Byakuran with even advantages was difficult enough. Fighting him with a disadvantage was like a cat fighting a tiger. The pathetic battle managed to last only as briefly as half an hour before it ended with Mukuro's second defeat and Byakuran looming over him like a tiger preparing to deliver its final blow to its prey to end the battle. But to the illusionist's surprise, he simply grins a satisfied grin and then turns away. Then a huge concrete fell from the ceiling and hit his head, hence the wound.

He was angry, for allowing such tragedy to happen under his watch. He was lost, after being the only survivor of the Vongola's carnage. He was determined, his last hope to find if Tsunayoushi and the others were still alive. But none of these could compare to the amount of confusion he felt.

_Why didn't Byakuran finish him off?_

* * *

It was raining. It had been raining since Mukuro wake up to a sea of dead bodies and the destruction of his third Mafia family in his life, two of which was not his doing. The illusionist found himself outside the gates of the Millifiore's Base. He was not sure why he went there but he was sure it was the only place he could go now.

It seemed a really wrong decision, but if Tsunayoushi and the rest were alive, it would be that they have been imprisoned by Byakuran. Mukuro was sure they were still alive, because they could be useful. Just like how ten years ago he was spared by the Vendice because _he _was useful.

The gate did not seem to grace him any sympathy. The wounded man had disguised himself once again with the look of Leonardo Lippi and had been standing outside those huge, heavy metal gates since the morning. Four hours had gone by; time seems to fly faster when he spends his time focusing on the wilted tulips before the gates. In the face of Byakuran Millifiore, even fragile things such as flowers were not spared.

The gate finally opens slightly with a creek. A pair in white uniforms greeted him.

"I am Leonardo Lippi. I wish to see Byakuran again after the misunderstanding earlier."

They nodded, did not show any sense of suspicious or surprise. "Byakuran-sama is expecting you." Said one of the Cervello.

Mukuro follows them without a word into the towering building with seventy-two floors of working assassins all under Byakuran's command. This was only a sub-base the Millifiore had in Japan. Mukuro knew Byakuran's private quarters would be at the top floor the building. Because that would allow Byakuran to watch over everything in Japan.

They left him after he steps out of the elevator, and then the Cervello bade him goodbye in a monotone and descended in the elevator.

The hallway through the top floor was a short and small one. It led to only one door to one office.

He hesitated before pushing the door open. There was a sickening feeling in his stomach that he would never be able to step out of this door again.

_What the hell am I thinking? I refuse to be restrained by such a fear._

He steps in. The room he entered was exactly like the one Byakuran has in his main base in Italy when Mukuro was under the disguise of Leonardo Lippi. He was greeted by a chair whose back is facing him. Unlike the cliché scenes in movies, it was unoccupied. Instead, a soft breeze blew into his right ear.

"I knew you'd come, Mukuro-kun."

Mukuro's heart skipped a beat as he swivels himself and leaps sideways.

Byakuran chuckles. "Come now. Didn't I solve this puzzle already?"

Disgusted by the fact he'd lost his grip of his demeanor so easily, Mukuro releases the illusion and glares at the Millefiore leader. "Why didn't you do it?"

The albino-haired male shrugs, a sly grin on his face that he knew he was going to ask this question. "I knew you'd come to look for me eventually." He laughs lightly, "After all, I already have to go through the trouble shipping nine causalities back into the base. The carriage could not afford to carry anymore."

_What?_

"So Tsunayoushi and the others are alive?" Mukuro mused.

"That is not what I said."

In an instant, Byakuran was shoved up against the wall. "Don't play around you _damn bastard!_" Mukuro hisses through clenched teeth.

Byakuran did not look afraid. Instead, he laughs. "Ne~~ This is interesting." He squeals in delight. "Are you _concern _about them, Muku-kun?"

Mukuro's teeth gritted harder. This bastard was toying with him, he knew, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Byakuran slowly unwinds Mukuro's fingers from his white spell uniform, adjusting his outfit when he was lowered back to the ground and smiles… irritatingly cheerfully. When he was done, he turns back to his adversary. "I kept them alive specially for you, Mukuro-kun." He said as if he'd done a good deed. "It'd be so easy just killing them and burn the bodies afterwards, you know, but then I'd have nothing to draw you here." He fakes a pout.

_Draw me here? Have I fallen into a trap?_

"What are you talking about?" Mukuro asked as he glares at Byakuran with a sporadic type of anguish. How could he, a master of manipulating other's feelings, allow his own to be toyed by some other?

"I'm even kind enough to allow them some special privilege while I plan to extend their stay here…" upon saying that, Byakuran walks to a nearby bookcase and presses a button on a remote. A part of the book case dislodges itself from the wall, revealing a doorway behind it.

Inside was another high-temperature room, and judging by the designs on the wall, it looked like some kind of secret laboratory.

Deciding he should see what game Byakuran wanted to play, Mukuro follows his led into the room. There, he saw it was empty of everything an experimenting laboratory should have. There were no potion shelves lining the walls. There were no gadgets such as a microscope or a centrifuge. There was no sink and no experiment table. Because the room was made for only one purpose.

In the center of the room were six experiment tables and each of them was occupied by peaceful faces of people he knew – Tsunayoushi Sawada, Lambo, Hayato Gokudera, Ryohei Sasagawa, Takeshi Yamamoto, and Chrome. Needles and tubes course through their bodies, injected into different nerves and blood vessels. A patch connected to wires was stick to the either sides of their temple. Their eyes were closed and they look peaceful.

Reborn was right when he said Byakuran possesses the power to make the people of the world fear him.

Said Byakuran waves a hand in front of a stunned Mukuro, eyes wide jaw opened in disbelief. When he'd got the illusionist's attention, he moves to a monitor by the side of the sleeping Vongola Guardians.

"They are now in a dream of their own world. And of course, for you, Mukuro-kun, I've set it to a rate where their dreams consist of only harmony and peace." He explains, "Tsuna-kun and the rest do not acknowledge their current _real_ situation right now."

Toying with the button on the monitor, he chuckles softly. "Spanner wasn't the person who made that program, you know…" His gaze turns acute, "I did."

_Spanner… what? _Mukuro thought hard. He remembered Decimo once told them about his experience while he was in the Mellone Base at some point. Spanner trained him to fight Moskas using a program where the individual is transferred into another world that was almost similar to the real world.

_Then if they died in that virtual world, then…_

"Exactly." Byakuran read his thoughts and confirms them, and then he teases, "Mukuro-kun, your thoughts are _so _much more easier to read when you're not hiding them."

_Byakuran…_

Out of the blue, Mukuro looks around. There were only six people there, but Byakuran said earlier that he'd kidnapped nine people. Then he realized, Kyoya was not there.

"Where—"

"Oh, you mean Hibari Kyoya?" the Milliefiore leader cuts him off. It was as seems that Byakuran knew and had planned everything from the start even before the Vongola's invasion. "He was one of those who meant more to you, ne? I must say, initially I only thought it was just Ken and Chikusa but when I found this in his room…" He inserts two fingers into the pocket on his white spell uniform to withdraw a piece of paper, then drops it to the ground.

Mukuro's gaze follows the paper until it landed on the cold tiled floor. The two persons on the photo were the same as the one he has in his very own pocket. Mukuro reaches up to touch the photo in which he still kept in his jacket.

"I really have no idea, not until I came across this when I was in his room. It was such a shocking surprise. And I didn't have any surprises for _so_ long." Byakuran sang as he skips to the other side of the room. When he finally stopped, his childish façade vanishes and was replaced with a dark expression. "But I hate it."

He opens the only door in the room other than the one they entered from. Inside was a completely different environment. It was small, also, but it looked like the insides of a torture chamber.

Mukuro did not need an invitation, he follows, a slight alarm in his stomach rising as he took in the full view of the room.

Three figures were chained to the wall, the upper half of their torso naked. Not because it was stripped from clothing. It was because their clothing was so badly torn it was reduced into nothing but tattered pieces hanging from their shoulders. The red and purple streaks across their bodies could prove it, and some were still bleeding. Thick linen rope bounded their hands and legs, stretching their limbs in different directions past their limits for the purpose of causing long-term dysfunction to their muscles. Even if they were released now, they would not be able to walk or use their hands for a while.

"Unfortunately the Kokuyo pair already passed out after only four sessions of torture." Byakuran frowns and pouted in disinterest at Ken and Chikusa. All three had their heads hung downwards and blind folded. The loss of vision should induce panic in the victim, according to himself. "Your little sweetheart is tough, though."

At the voice of someone else in the room, the older one of the three –Hibari Kyoya-, lifts his head and looks around. "Who's there?" He calls out into the room, only to receive his own echo. His voice was strained and pained, it was obvious to those who seen that the man was not given water for days. Kyoya shook his head in attempt to get rid of the blindfold, but Byakuran made sure that was no going to happen.

It took Mukuro all his strength to not lunge himself forward and hug the raven, but a tap on his shoulder reminded him it would be better if Kyoya did not know he was here. So instead, he clasps his mouth with a gloved hand. Tears forcing itself to the corner of his eye, not because of fear, not because sadness. How could Byakuran be so monstrous? So inhuman? Even if he was the abominable Rokudo Mukuro from ten years ago, before he met Sawada Tsunayoushi, he would not have gotten to this length.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked Byakuran, voice evidently strained, eyes wild. He was literally shaking from the Millifiore's inhuman activities. "What do you _want _by showing me all these?"

"I am simply offering you a choice, Mukuro-kun." The Milliefiore gave a satisfied, teasing grin. "I am letting you choose: either you surrender yourself to me and become my slave for eternity, then your friends will remain alive; or you can chose no life at all in which I would kill you, then release them and let them grieve over your death, after which I will hunt them down again one by one and they will die more horribly than just being ripped to shreads in a dream or bleeding to death. So," He leans in close to Mukuro, ghosting over his cheek. "Which will you choose?"


	2. Chapter 2

_Mukuro/Hibari &amp;&amp; Byakuran/Mukuro_

_**Warning(s):**__ Yaoi, disturbing contents, possible cannon character's deaths, and very OOC uke Mukuro._  
_**Extra note:**__ Personally I would classify this fic as being rather dark. Read at your own risk!_

**_Author's Note: _**So... I'm finally back after a year of hiatus, though I cannot promise if I will continue writing, but I've recently developed muse back to this fic, and so here you go, Chapter 2! I've received request in including lemons for this fic, but unfortunately I'm not that all experienced in writing smut, so maybe you'd like to drop by in my inbox so we can have some sort of discussion? That would delight me greatly! And of course, if the idea belongs to you I would include your name in the credits.

* * *

**Ashes of Winter (Previously Caught Up the Edge) **

**Chapter 2**

He did not forget how that hand had touched him so thoroughly. How it roamed every part of his body and every inch of his skin, imprinting every curve to memory. It had shocked him the first time he was touched like this, for Rokudou Mukuro had always been a master of his own emotions, disallowing his body to rule over his mind the way most humans did, and his wits never failed him during all those twenty-four years of his life, up till that very day.

The fact that the first man who was able to draw unguarded noises from his mouth had been the same man who lost to him in Kokuyo 9 years ago was unnerving. Mukuro felt intensely disturbed, much more than it was to his liking, but there was also pleasure, and the Mist Guardian was torn between hating and loving Hibari Kyoya's guts.

Though, it did not surprised him that he ended up choosing the latter. In fact, he was amused how, for the first time in his living years, Mukuro _willingly_ allowed such foolishness to overcome him and let it consumed him whole. It was not the fact that he was blinded by love –or lust-. He hadn't lost himself in the bliss of Hibari's touches and kisses. He did not love Hibari the way lovers loved each other. What was between them was _not_ genuine love, but in fact it was more towards the _need_ to feel whole again. They were rivals, yes, and had been since their first confrontation, but it was also that point alone that made them felt that they needed one another to feel complete.

To Mukuro, it was as though Hibari was that person that he had been looking for his entire life. And Hibari knew, which is why at times he would play that little game of his –to disappear for weeks and months on end from Mukuro's life until the Mist Guardian could not hold on any longer, and when he finally drops to the level beyond frustration Hibari would appear outside his door and has his way with him once more.

It made him irritated, and no less annoyed, but Mukuro would have been lying if he said he hadn't enjoyed it. It was as though the Cloud _knew_ what was going on his mind: Mukuro likes things that are harder to get.

Strange, how that mundane skylark was the one who could do these kind of things to him. To mess up with his mind and bend his emotions the way he please without even trying. Perhaps Mukuro have finally met someone who qualifies to become his superior. Hibari alone fit that title; as for the rest of the guardians – Gokudera, Yamamoto, Ryohei, and so on – it would be outrageous to think of them as the same level with himself. They were people who has seen the brightest and darkest side of the world and despite having experienced hardship, they still have that light in the eyes. A light that cannot be seen in neither Hibari nor Mukuro. Perhaps that was why the Cloud and Mist isolate themselves from getting too acquainted with the rest of the Vongola. Because things like these do not need to be spoken to be acknowledged. They all knew.

"You know I'll come looking for you when I want you." Hibari said as he shifted his weight on the bed, lighting up a cigarette after his hand casually found the lighter in the first drawer of the little cabinet next to their bed, as though it wasn't his first time staying over the night in the illusionist's abode.

"Ku fu fu fu. But when I want you..? That wouldn't be fair to me, would it?" He knew Hibari only said those words because whenever they laid together he would make sure Mukuro was the first one to make the move. Which was why he loved this little game… because he could have the pleasure of seeing Mukuro beg. But the Mist Guardian knew, and saved some of his pride by not making it too obvious.

"It wouldn't." he confirms, the light of his cigarette strong against the dim background of their room. 2 hours to dawn and they had already 3 rounds since last night. Mukuro blames it on Hibari, for the last time they had seen each other was a little more than half a year ago. "But that way I can make sure you stay obediently under my control." He gave a soft chuckle, "It wouldn't do if you got bored of me some day and went for another. That would hurt my pride greatly."

Heterochromatic eyes blinks, showing the faintest sign of surprise though its owner regretted it immediately and before Hibari could point it out, it was gone as quickly as the breeze.

"You're concerned? How _pleasantly_ surprising. I'm flattered."

Even as he said those words, he'd caught the littlest look of sincerity in the skylark's eyes. Mukuro was a jealous man; the reason he'd been so frustrated at Hibari's disappearance was because he was paranoid that the Cloud was off with someone else. That Cavallone, perhaps? He did not like to think about that possibility, so instead he focuses on the fact that how much it disturbed him to let Hibari owned him the way he did. Were it for anyone else, Mukuro would have killed off that person to be rid of this weakness. But somehow he felt that he wouldn't be any better off if Hibari was gone. So he lets it be.

At times he wonders if these feelings were mutual. Now he knew. Hibari was jealous, too. And somehow that pleases the illusionist.

"Don't get too cocky, I'll bite you to death."

That brought a smile to Mukuro's lips. It somehow reminded him of the Kyoya the first time they met. During that time the couple had tried to kill each other, and Hibari's look had been hostile, intense, filled with irritation and annoyance. That same look now lingering in Hibari's eyes 9 years later, as he pulls him into a fiery kiss.

* * *

He was jerked awake by the first senses of bitter frost as eyelids flutters open, breathe frantic. It had been too disappointing for Mukuro when he woke up only to find that a dream. Yet not entirely, it was more than a dream, it was a memory. It was as though Mukuro was sitting as a side spectator as he watches his memories reel back, memories of him and Kyoya and Tsunayoushi. He would have made a blatantly lie if he said he didn't enjoyed it. In fact, those were the best times of his life.

His attention was forced to draw back when the arm that had slipped itself around his waist moved. Mukuro turns his head, disgust engulfs his entire being when he saw a white-haired man sleeping next to him, looks peaceful, contrary to what he was showed when the man was awake. He remembered little of what happened last night, mostly because Mukuro did not want to remember, but the bruises on his body and limbs and neck said otherwise. Byakuran had promised to be gentle, but it seems he would not go easy on a man who would not bow before torture.

Mukuro moves his hips a little, only to be struck by scorching pain through the lower half of his body. Byakuran had been wary enough to hurt him enough so the Mist's movements would fall more handicapped towards his advantage if he ever intend to escape. Such a careful person, the reason why he was as equally fearsome.

That little gesture seem to awaken the white-haired demon, as the hand moves up to grab his shoulders and turns him over to look at its owner.

"Good morning, Mukuro-kun ~" sang Byakuran in a sing-song voice, gripping Mukuro's already bruised hand as though he feared the Mist would jump out of bed and run away any sooner. "You passed out in the middle of last night, tell me am I really that good?"

Fists clenched, face burning, but the illusionist somehow managed to uphold his smile. "Ku fu fu fu. Over confident, are you? Perhaps I say that I've merely been bored to sleep?"

Mukuro's insides tensed when Byakuran's grip tightens further. It's going to leave another bruise, if it goes on, but that seemed to matter a little at this apparent moment. For all his attention was diverted to the look in Byakuran's eyes, hungry and licking his lips, like a tiger ready to pounce onto its selected prey.

"Fu fu fu. Is that so? Then maybe I should have another go, hopefully this time I'll give you a morning where you will _never_ forget."

Mukuro stiffed a yelp when he dive down suddenly and bit his neck, and it seemed as though Byakuran knew that the Mist was holding back on purpose, he moves his teeth to the place where Mukuro's adam apple was and sucks at the bob. This time, he couldn't hold back any longer and before he could have second thoughts, a chocked gasp tore from his throat.

Byakuran smiled. It was only the beginning.


End file.
